“having entrepreneurial support at school could have fast tracked my business by 20 years”

(Mary Mc Kenna, Entrepreneur and serial Business Investor)

On Tuesday 9th January 2018 Entrepreneur in Residence was launched in St Mary’s by Mark Patterson, BBC Radio Foyle, where it was attended by a host of local entrepreneurs such as Gemma Duffy, Independent Derry, Ciaran Murray, Creative Metrics, Aoife Doherty, Sass&Halo among local business people from a wide spectrum of interest such as Banking services, Hoteliers, Derry & Strabane Council, Education services, local politicians and community groups.

Mary Mc Kenna is a renowned entrepreneur where she previously set up Learning Pool among other business ventures and describes herself as a serial Business Investor. She resides locally but spends a lot of her time addressing business interests in London. She has particular interest in female Business start-up programmes where she can identify individual and business potential.

Entrepreneur in Residence is unique in N.Ireland where St Mary’s pupils will have an opportunity to explore and grow their entrepreneurial potential. The main of the programme is to reverse the current business culture and to inspire a new generation of local business people who can make their own contribution to the business and economic future of the North West. Moving forward there will be monthly meetings, workshops, visits and guest appearances from local entrepreneurs collaborating with over 100 St Mary’s pupils to develop grassroots entrepreneurial talent.

St Mary’s College would like to thank Derry & Strabane Council for their support on launching this event.